Yesterday, JON and KATE GOSSELIN met with an arbitrator to begin hashing out some of their MANY money issues.

There's a lot on that table . . . including Kate's recent request for child and spousal support . . . but it sounds like they only made it through one issue: Kate's claim Jon stole $235,000 from their joint account.

(Jon has publicly admitted to removing SOME money . . . something like $22,000 . . . but according to a past arbitrator's ruling, he can't remove ANY money from that account without Kate signing off on it.)

(Kate can withdraw money from that account on her own, but it MUST be used to cover the family's bills, or to purchase necessities for their eight kids.)

When it was all said and done, Jon was ordered to pay back $180,000 . . . and he has less than two weeks to do it. The money must be returned by Monday, October 26th, when both of them are due back in court.

(If he doesn't pay up, the judge said he could face contempt charges.)

But Kate also has an assignment due that day. She has to provide accounting for all the money she's spent . . . to prove that she's also playing by the rules.

And then there's this:

According to Kate's lawyer, quote, "The remaining sum of $55,000, which Ms. Gosselin used for household bills and expenses relating to the children, will be subject to further determination by the arbitrator at a later date."

(It's a little unclear what that means. Unless there's some sort of crazy math going on here that I'm not following . . . doesn't that seem to imply that Kate is admitting to spending some of the $235,000 that was allegedly missing from their account???)

(It definitely sounds like he's referring to the difference between that $235,000 and the $180,000 that Jon has to pay back. But maybe I'm missing something.)

Kate said, quote, "As difficult as this has been for me, I am pleased that the Court has ruled fairly on behalf of myself and my children. I look forward to returning to private arbitration, as we have agreed to do, to resolve any remaining issues."

Jon's attorney said, quote, "We are very pleased with the outcome of the court proceeding and the arbitration session. We are very hopeful that there will soon be a resolution [to the Gosselin's overall finances]."